Animorphs, The Inheritance (Discontinued)
by The Grimwar
Summary: Well, it would appear that certain things did NOT happen the way the Ellemist wanted, so he decided that if The Crayak could play loose with the rules why couldn't he? It was only a matter of time before he snapped, the Ellemist turned the clock back centuries and changed a lot of things in the Universe. Things are different, but will it be enough to change the Animorphs fate?
1. Introduction: It just got real

**greetings Fanimorphs, Anifans, Fandalites, or whatever we call ourselves these days! We all know Animorphs, this isn't that, we all know Animorphs fanfiction, this one is unlike any you have ever seen before, the main characters are OCs, in my defense I'm not sure how I would write the Cannon Animorphs, and I don't want to risk ruining them. This story will explore one particular subject that certain members of the fanbase have been wondering about for a long time, Elfangor crash landed but survived, considered KIA by his forces the Animorphs have his ship now as well as the morphing cube and his guidance, because the Andalites actually succeed in driving the Yeerks away they have the next 20 years to prepare, and now as they prepare for the invasion they have the opportunity to use an edge they couldn't in the cannon, HEREDITARY MORPHING POWER! that's right, in order to prepare, they're gonna make BABY ANIMORPHS! If you ask me, I think Marco's gonna have fun with this when he joins up.**  
 **And I also have a little forum I made, since the Animorphs are going to be expanding rapidly in this fic for a while, I'll need you to submit Animorphs if you are willing.**

 **No Helmacrons, no Nartec, and for a long time, no Yeerks, not outside the prologue and flashbacks.**


	2. Prologue: Anticipations

**Hey guys, I'm back! This fanfiction is different from all others you will read, in story concept and in time frame, it will take quite some time to finish this, we'll be going through _years._ One thing is guaranteed though, you will be in for quite the ride** **.**

 **This chapter is quite long, exceeding 2,000 words, if there is anything you need to do before reading this, such as homework, cleaning, or any other mandatory tasks including using the restroom, please do so before reading this.**

 **This story now has 200 views! Thank you for helping me reach this milestone! Now before we start this prologue, I want to get something straight, now since they are aliens, and we will be painting this chapter from their point of view, I think it is necessary to place a list of measurements, both alien races use the same astronomical measurement but not the same time system, our time, will be labeled with** ( **E** ) **. This chapter will also feature the Yeerk's "Combat Codes," the list of protocols they follow in most situations.**

 **We're also playing with the canon a bit here, the war has already been going on for centuries, but then 40 years into the war, as the Yeerks were on the brink of defeat, one Yeerk took control over an Andalite War-Prince during the final battle, the greatest of their kind, and turned the tide in favor of the Yeerks during the "final battle." Some years later they embarked in a great exodus, the Andalite's High Council had realized that in the event of a full on Yeerk invasion they would not survive, most were forced onto their dome ships, wandering the galaxy until the Yeerk threat was diminished enough to resettle on their home world, I will also use some unsung canon in this.**

 **In Book #4, Ax said that there are currently three races left fighting the Yeerks, we could probably assume these are Hawjabrans, Anati, and the Andalites, the Andalites are the only ones who can stop them, the reasons being the other two are either not advanced enough to successfully sustain an interstellar war or too weakened and only able to put up a defensive. I'd guess the Anati are the former, and Hawjabrans the latter, although we will mention other races, and PS, what were the Kelbrid doing in this time? Were they fighting the Yeerks? Did they even know of the Yeerks existence?**

 **And also, I'll be playing with the Yeerk political structures a bit, at the top of the Yeerk canon Military structure are Vissers, who rank just below the Council of Thirteen, there will be 48 Vissers in total in my fanfiction, and three Grand Vissers, 16 for every one! Grand Visser 1 has Vissers 1-16 under his/her command, 2 has Vissers 17-36 under his/her command, and Grand Visser Three has Vissers 37-46 under his/her command. The Grand Vissers** **are the highest ranking Yeerks directly under the Council of Thirteen, and their words have extremely heavy weight within the empire, like Pope power.**

* * *

 **Space-Time-Speed Measurements**

Delon=Lightyear

Mel=95,411,000 miles/ **Au=93,000,000**

1 Norot=1.5 kilometers

A. Year=11 Months

A. Day=22 **E** Hours

A. Hour=2 **E** hours

A. Minute=72 **E** Seconds

Y. Year=Seven **E** Months

Y. Day=18 **E** hours

Y. Hour=75 **E** Minutes

Y. Minute=80 **E** Seconds

1 Rid=3 Knots

 **Yeerk Combat Codes**

(?)-?=large scale, ships/bases/armies/regions/planets

?-(?)=Infantry/individual Squadrons

1-( **1** , **2** )= **On Standby** : no enemy presence, maintain regular routines.

2-( **2,3** )= **Normal Alert** : suspected enemy threat nearby, adapting as needed.

3-( **2,5,6** )= **Space Battle Protocol 1** : skirmish, possible damage to ships and loss of personnel possible.

4-( **1,2,3** )= **Siege Protocol 1** : send advance team to establish a base of operations with a Kandrona Generator that functions at full capacity, then slowly take over the population, the Poolship will establish additional points of expansion in other regions on the target world.

5-( **2,3,5** )= **Siege Protocol 2** : Invade target world and take over by force, primary objective is acquisition of suitable host bodies, may be enacted after Protocol 1 is issued.

6-( **2,3,5** )= **Siege Protocol 3** : Invade Target world and take over by force, primary objective is capture of strategic positions.

7-( **4,5,6** )= **Space Battle Protocol 2** : Full Combat Alert to all allied vessels, fleet will assume defensive or offensive fleet combat formation depending on situation.

8-( **4,5,6** )= **Invasion Protocol 1** : enemy army/fleet is besieging our world and has established a foothold, move in and quell with bombing runs, warships providing fire support when/if available.

9-( **4,6** )= **Invasion Protocol 2** : enemy army/fleet is besieging our world and has captured a considerable amount of land and host bodies, all Yeerks with able bodied hosts are deployed to reclaim all/as many assets (as possible) and prevent further losses.

10-( **6** )= **Boarding Protocol 1** : enemy forces are boarding the ship with intent to capture/destroy vessel, secure Bridge, engine room, Yeerk Pool, and ship-to-ship weapon systems and repel boarders wherever possible.

11-( **3,5** )= **Boarding Protocol 2** : Objective is to board enemy ship and disable ship-to-ship arsenal/capture vessel/acquire host bodies/acquire cargo.

 _Coveted Items_ **: Hawjabran Interstellar Map Coordinator, Hawjabran Defense Grid Core, Skrit Na Scout Archive Data, Ongachic Star Map Terminals, Korla Terraformer Vessel Blueprints, Andalite Genesis Matrix(Zygote Carrier), Andalite Neural Interface Plug, Andalite Data Core, (Andalite)Escafil Grafter(Unknown Device), Anati Home System Asteroid Map**

12-( **3,4,6** )= **Boarding Protocol 3** : enemy forces have grown too numerous/destructive for local defenses to properly compensate, vital sections compromised, initiate distress beacon to all nearby Yeerk forces, delay total enemy takeover/initiate asset denial and self destruct vessel.

( **1** )-1= _Personnel on Standby_ : no attack imminent, continue basic duties.

( **1,2,3,4,5,6** )-2= _Personnel on Ready_ : suspected danger, prepare for combat and probable bodily harm.

( **2,4,5,6,11,12** )-3= _Select Personnel will engage in offsite/special duties_ : search and rescue, patrolling, host world takeover establishment, prototype testing, criminal/terrorist/enemy/pirate hunting, resource acquisition and scouting are the duties expected to be performed whenever and wherever needed.

( **7,8,9,12** )-4= _Personnel on Full retreat/Evacuation and/or resource protection/asset denial_ : The enemy has taken/is about to take a vital stronghold/ship/planet, all Yeerks who are not capable of combat/invaluable resources are to be moved offsite to a safe location or if no other alternative to enemy asset acquisition is available, the resource/asset/weapon is to be destroyed to prevent enemy capture.

( **3,5,6,7,8,11** )-5= _Personnel on Full Offensive Combat Alert_ : All Yeerks are to enter all available able bodied hosts and take/destroy enemy stronghold/ship/city/asset.

( **3,7,8,9,10,12** )-6= _Personnel on Full Defensive Combat Alert_ : all Yeerks are to enter all available able bodied hosts and defend the asset from enemy Assault.

* * *

 **Prologue: Anticipations**

* * *

The most notable thing about space is that it is silent, the only thing that can be heard were certain energy wavelengths that cannot be perceived without special equipment. Space was as silent as usual, but then a certain wavelength began increasing in intensity between a moon and it's planet, it was getting louder, and louder, until the effects were visible if you looked the right way at the right angle. An invisible ripple appeared, became more spastic until it was a windless hurricane, then in the middle of the hurricane, a pure white slit appeared. Growing in length and size the slit turned into a sphere dashed with purple and red structures, then out of it came one ship, then the rest of the fleet followed. Three bearing the visage of metal spiders with tall oval shaped bodies, their size being a titanic 1,532 meters tall, designation **Pool Ships**. There were six **W** **arships** among them, the largest of them had a relatively flat triangular shape and long design on their 907 meter hulls, with great spires going out the front then curving downward and converging like a pair of arms grasping for something, both possessing three large finger-like rods at the end.

Three of the ships were 1,102 meter long **Carriers** carrying the bulk of their fighters and if needed to do minor to moderate maintenance and repairs to any ship that's required. there was one more ship though, the thirteenth ship was dwarfed by it's companions at only 212 Meters long, but it had one thing that the other ships were sorely lacking: Speed and agility, this ship is capable of flitting between defensive lines and devastating ships more than five times it's size.

The extraterrestrials were looking for something, their scouting drones have been going missing in the area for the past two weeks, this cluster of systems is unexplored and currently suspected to have an alien world ripe for conquest. Quite a distance away a smaller group of alien ships lies in wait, and the arrival of the aliens did not go unnoticed by this particular fleet, but the Yeerks were not unaware of their presence either.

* * *

"Grand Visser 1! Andalite incursion detected!" the Hork-Bajir at the navigation terminal called out, at which the aforementioned commander turned his head. (-How far away are they?-) The warlord asked, fingers anxiously grabbing the arm rests of the seat he was in and green eyes narrowing in anxiety.

"They're close, distance is 148.75 norots behind us and advancing, they're launching LRSTs four swarm collumns! The first wave will hit our rear guard starboard flank Cruisers in 11 Minutes and counting!" The Navigator said urgently.

The Yeerk grasped the armrests with his thin blue fingers tighter as he gave out the command, (-all Morb Turrets fire full barrage on three of the LRST paths.-) then he began to think, _148.75 norots, we're 50 norots away from their Antimatter cannon's range, if they have them, and just when we're initiating Zero Space Reversion, they're too close to be a patrol fleet, I suspected them to be the cause behind our disappearing scout drones. But they're already firing Long Range Swarmer Torpedoes, they need to set those up, beforehand, so they were waiting for us!_ (-Enemy vessel numbers?-)

The Navigation's Officer pulled up a display which presented in detail the fleet in opposition to their their own. "A Class One Dome Ship and Three Warships, two cruisers and a Destroyer, possibly a scouting fleet, advancing on us in Spearhead Formation."

The Bridge was silent when this information was announced, they knew when their Visser is this silent and still after he received information was thinking. _At first glance we obviously have the advantage_ , he considered, _it is a four to thirteen fight, we are one over three times their number, and the drones have only been going missing in this select system for two weeks,_ _in the two days that our probes were able to collect information, they saw a world inhabited by a class V race, numbering in the billions, yet they detected no space worthy ships, not even ion exhaust or thermal discharge,_ _implying that these four ships came here alone_ _two days after the probes started coming_ _. And if they intercepted our probes, with that small a number, then they must know we were coming, so they waited for us, hmhm, their luck ran out, they only have four ships! When we win, we'll set up an invasion here, of course, with the class V race discovered, my legend as Grand Visser 1 shall be cemented forever!_

(-Send out Combat Alert 3-2 to all vessels! To the rear guard ships, including Rear, and Central Spacecraft Carriers, initiate formation _Advancing Wall II_ and engage the Andalites! I authorize the unrestricted use of available weapons, all hands, this ship will participate! the attack group shall proceed at interception velocity, morb turrets are to fire at the LRSTs, full barrage!-)

As the Communications Officer transmitted the order to the rest of the fleet, and to the Blade Ship's crew, the ship began to rumble as the engine fired up and the alarm sounded, signalling that all available host bodies are to be entered and prepared for combat, all of this happened the Main Cannon Operator whispered to herself in her host's Taxxon language, which the Inquisitor on the Bridge picked up and understood.

"Ensign, your worrying is wasted here, Grand Visser Esplin has never lost a single battle," the Hork-Bajir Controller stated in his unusually clear voice. "Never when it is _him_ commanding our forces, it is he who has single handedly doubled our territory, and he who the Andalites fear above all others of our kind."

(-A fact which you will remember once we destroy those Andalites-) The Visser said, completing the Inquisitor's reprimand. (-And one more things,-) the GV added, with an authoritative tone directed to the Captain of The Blue Band Guard, clad in his steel colored armor with blue bands wrapping around his arms, legs and chest. (-Essak, make sure your forces are prepared to board that dome ship, and all Morb Turrets are to fire full barrage on the two farthest LRST paths. Aim the EMP Drillers at the Destroyer.-)

"It will be done."

the rumbling stopped as the ship reached the target momentum of 43 rids, as the Morb turrets began firing six inch Neutrino charged bullets at the suicide drones and the crew prepared for battle all while the alarm was blaring, the Yeerk's remained completely unaware of what awaited them. In this battle, a world's fate will be changed, a hero will die, and a path of vengeance shall begin.


	3. Prologue 2: Sundered Unto Chaos

**We are now up to 290 views! Now that that's out of the way, let us get on with the story. In essence, things will get real, and here's Prologue Two: Sundered Unto Chaos. You've done it now, you shouldn't have said that, you really shouldn't have said that...**

* * *

Greetings, I know you would not recognize me, why would you? I will not recognize you either, most of those who see this.

Come closer lads and lassies, I am going to tell you what happened, as it turns out, after the destruction of Visser One and the fall of the Yeerk empire, the Ellemist's eternal enemy, The Crayak, lost the battle, but by no means did he lose "the Game." After the Animorphs left to hunt down and kill an extraterrestrial Abomination known as The One, and to reclaim an old friend, Armageddon has once more come upon humanity, and with only one Animorph remaining, the situation was grave.

With the Yeerks defeated and The howlers pacified, all that remained of Crayak's active pawns was The One, who was already doomed. The Animorphs did not show mercy or relent in their assault, returning from their successful hunt with the wrecked Bladeship in tow, they were horrified to find Earth in flames, Cassie was dead, every nation on Earth had been decimated if not annihilated by the subjugated Kelbrid, the Cube was lost, the Andalites were doomed, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

There was nothing The Ellemist could do to secure an ideal victory...he was guaranteed to win, but with the events playing out there was no way to enjoy it, the victory would carry an unimaginable cost, humanity is decimated, the Andalites soon to follow suite, and even the Howlers will suffer great loss of life to push back the flood of Crayak's army.

As the One was driven from the young warrior's body and killed, The Ellemist could hear across the threads, a dark and jubilant voice, it was laughing. Cruel, mocking, carrying insults meant only for him.

 **Hahahahahaha. What's wrong?** The voice asked, **you won did you not?** **Your Animorphs pacified the Howlers, then defeated the Yeerks, and at last they have destroyed The One. Too bad the Animorphs didn't notice what he did to the Kelbrid, now their armies are going to rush out by the millions to avenge their god! HAAAAhahahahahahahahahaaa!**

...

The Ellemist was silent as something appeared before him.

 **Oh, fear not, I know you will win** , The Drode said, his voice dripping malice. **Your victory is inevitable, gradually but surely, the Kelbrid will be pushed back and realize the error of their ways, I and my master will be defeated, we will be destroyed, we will lose, congratulations, you won! HAAhahahahahahahaha!**

...

The Ellemist said nothing.

 **Oh wait, there is something wrong, is there? One detail about your victory that you find undesirable?** **Oh wait! You didn't account for humanity and the Andalites to be decimated, did you? You should have taken a peek inside Kelbrid space sooner.**

 **How many resets did it take for you to get to this point?** The eldritch abomination's servant mocked, **not just these past three Earth years, but long before, on The Fall of Horak, The Great Taxxon Rebellion, all the way to the advent of the morphing cube itself? With all of this death and destruction, this sacrifice** ** _must_** **be worth it, right?**

...No, after what I have witnessed, winning is not worth it, not like this. The Ellemist responded with melancholy across the strings.

 **You don't want this? So you believe this victory too bitter? Too costly? so move on to the next planet, the next race, I am sure you will get it right. I mean, the Pemalite's sacrifice was** ** _not_** **for nothing, right?** The Crayak's Wild Card mocked...

I know what you are trying to get me to do, it will not work.

...then went further

 **You're right, it won't work, but the Pemalites didn't work out either, did they? Nor did the Kelbrid, nor the Andalites, are you saying you're giving up on the humans too? Oh well, move on to the next right?**

the Ellemist remained silent, but then...

hhhmhmhmhmhm...

 **What?** The Drode asked, **why are you laughing?**

Hmhmhmhmhm

 **Wh-why are you...?!**

Hehehehehehe

 **We just destroyed three races, and dozens of worlds!** the pet screamed, **we drove Humanity, and The Andalites to their extinction!**

HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA

 **We destroyed their worlds! And soon nothing shall remain of their dismantled civilizations!**

You know _nothing._

The creature's eyes widened with confusion at his change of tone, **what-what do you mean?**

 **You heard what we said,** The Ellemist replied, **Lackofa, I know you have observed this, but I am such a** ** _slow_** ** _learner_** **.**

It was The Drode's turn to be silent, not wishing any further interaction.

 **We both know the rules of The Game, and you have always stretched them as far as you could, with every opportunity, no, I will not move on, I think, it is my turn to stretch my capabilities.**

Oh ha ha ha! you cannot! The beast retorted, knowing what will happen, but very very cautious.

 **I think I am going to go back, yes, I think this will be quite nostalgic.**

You know if you do that, you'll die! Just like the two of you had agreed! The Rules Forbid it! The Arbiter will finally kill you! Glee.

 **Oh? We are on very separate pages, we both know the rules, I am not doing that, no, and they do not forbid THIS!**

And the strings erupted in chaos, everything was crashing together, falling apart, rearranging, and the natives of this Universe had no way of knowing that The Ellemist has sundered the universe unto chaos.

With the Yeerks defeated and The howlers pacified, all that remained of Crayak's active pawns was The One, who was already doomed. The Animorphs did not show mercy or relent in their assault, returning from their successful hunt with the wrecked Bladeship in tow, they were horrified to find Earth in flames, Cassie was dead, every nation on Earth had been decimated if not annihilated by the subjugated Kelbrid, the Cube was lost, the Andalites were doomed, and there was only one thing the Ellemist could do to stop it.

fngcldkjgfnbcgdrf,vx,vx,vx,vx,vx,vxkjdrdrdrdr8ujgggggggg,unc***************************** **Aguella,** droity394857dfh5935096AETRJH8 **forgive me,** 56y9sedghmdyr08883fiur **but this is The** slkfjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjalso **Game Changer,** wmi8ueytytytytytytytyt **we cannot** hgfnblfdmgvblidjkntglibvdrdrdrdr **afford to lose it** , **so, let's play a game, justonelast** ytytytytytytg************************************************************************************************************************************************************ **time** ***********************************************************************************************************************( **A** )

* * *

 **In hindsight, it was only a matter of time, I mean, millions of years would have an effect on anybody right?**


	4. Chapter 1: Fully Operational

**We are now up to 515 views! Now that that's out of the way, let us continue on with the story. I know you're still rather rattled about the Ellemist's episode, but just so you know what happened, as you will see below, the Ellemist drastically changed things, and believe me, he changed a TON of things in the Animorphs universe, so many, I'm sorry for not uploading sooner, I wonder whatever is tying him and The Crayak's hands right now killed him for violating the rules, he could be alive though, maybe. Anyway, here in this chapter be...the main characters, what? They're not Animorphs _yet!_**

* * *

 _Chapter 1_

Fully Operational

* * *

 _Day One of the Camping Trip_

 _May 14th 1982_

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

 _Seth POV_

I drove the jeep down the gravel road at the edge of town, there were trees surrounding us from both sides and no sign of civilization anywhere, it would have been peaceful, were it not for the laughing our resident comedian just instigated, but that isn't bad, just ruins the relaxing mood.

Janet, who is sitting right next to me, seemingly ignoring the chaos the 14 year old comedian in the back seat was bringing but smiling in the front seat.

"Hey Janet, want to play I Spy?" I asked her laughing with a stupid grin.

"Seth! Ethan _just_ hijacked the game and crashed it into a wall literally less than _thirty seconds_ ago! Are you going to say grizzly bears in bikinis or something?" Janet said between laughs.

That was when aforementioned anarchist, Ethan, decided to tell us his side of the insolence.

"Hey hey! I won't do that! Hmm, but thanks for the idea, now I Spy with my little eye-" He quipped from behind me.

"This outta be good" Loren said.

The youngest member of our group at age 13(four months behind Ethan) with dirty blond hair and overall a very nice country girl from...the countryside, and she's the reason we're here. Loren may be a somewhat lazy girl who is perpetually addicted to tie-dye, but we lost a bet with her, in Ethan's words "Loren played us like toys." Case in point she beat not only Ethan but won a chess tournament against all seven of us including _Janet_ , the most nerdy of my friends and _president_ of the _Chess Club_.

The deal was that if she defeated all of us in a chess tournament, she'll make us do whatever she wanted, if she loses? 100-200 dollars to all of the winners. Naturally Janet was president of the Chess club, for me the challenge of the contest was impossible to resist, and Ethan? Ethan just wanted the money, guy's so unpredictable I doubt even he knows what he'll do with 100 bucks. If she won, then at the beginning of summer vacation we will do one thing for her, anything, no matter what. The contest eventually turned into an 7v1 tournament, me and my friends and a couple of random classmates against her, the odds were not in her favor. The other two losers are in the car with the supplies jammed in the back, and another two in a jeep behind us, Loren's actually pretty nice, we've become good friends, Loren can make good friends out of everybody.

we lost, and as a result here we are, it's the beginning of Summer Vacation and we're going on a camping trip, for _four weeks_. I now know that girl is _frigging_ smart, I now will _never_ underestimate her again, but Loren's actually pretty nice, we've become good friends, Loren can make good friends out of just everybody.

We may be here because of a bet all seven of us lost, but that won't stop us from enjoying this though.

"-something...blue?"

 _Hmm, this one may be really easy or really hard..._

"the sky?" I said.

"No," he responded abruptly.

"The dice hanging from the rear-view mirror?" Janet responded.

"Good...guess but no." Ethan said with quiet apprehension.

"The-wait, Ethan, is something wrong?" Loren added, as I looked out of the window looking for what he is seeing, nothing but the sky and clouds.

"...No, it's..." Ethan was silent for a few moments, "ah, never mind, it's...gone now."

That was the first sign, the sign that our lives would be irrevocably changed.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The jeep shook as we drove into a small clearing in the woods, far far away from any roads, and even farther away from all signs of civilization.

"Wait stop!" Loren the guide said, before brushing her hair, "this is the place."

We pulled out into the right side of the clearing and got out of our cars, taking in the fresh air of the deep woods as the car carrying our supplies came and parked to the left of our own vehicle. I opened my door and got out of the driver's seat, and headed toward the other car, a beige colored van, the driver's side door opened and he walked around the front of the jeep to the left side of the car, I saw him in all his unassuming glory, Rich. When he reached the right side, he stands there and just looks around the woods, gazing into the treetops in silence before turning to me when I was a few feet away.

"Don't worry, I brought the water bottles, non-disposable, the knives, the toilet paper, matches, plus the tents, all four of them, and the...bags. Loren, why is there a sledgehammer and an ax in your bag?" Rich, who happened to be the one in charge of the supplies, asked the instigator of this trip, as he walked out to our jeep toward the instigator of this excursion. Though he was the one who was the most fine with the camping trip, he was mildly annoyed, but even that faded with time long before of summer vacation, he's not very capable of malice, despite his dark thoughts and paranoia.

"Hey gimme that, no looky looky! The sledgehammer is for putting the stakes in our tents, I didn't have anything else available, the ax is for firewood!" Loren said, yanking the bag from Rich's grasp before making an announcement. "let's get this thing started, unpack the vans, set up camp and have a good time! everybody packed spare clothes, right?"

"I don't think We need an ax for firewood," I said. "We'll gather sticks for kindling."

"Oh." Loren said, realizing that she overprepared.

The third car came rolling up in that moment, spraying dirt and everything else on the forest floor everywhere immediately in front of it's tires, and out came Naomi Bars from the driver's seat and took to immediately running toward the woods, in not even 15 seconds she was gone despite the flannel patterned skirt that came down to her knees, then out the passenger side door came...

"Naomi wait!" Out came Donald, a tall thin white guy who looks like the stereotypical Nazi(or if I chose his words, a not-zi), complete with platinum blond hair and blue eyes. He is Loren's best friend, one of those people who you know won't fail you, and is one of the strangest guys I have ever known, I honestly don't know whether that's a necessarily good or bad thing. Most call him Don, he's a rather creative guy.

"You can still use the cup! It's not too late!"

He chased her for a few seconds before wisely giving up and opting to turn his attention to us.

"Ah well, never mind, guess it is too late, besides, what happens in the woods stays in the woods, hey Seth! Knock knock."

"I know who's there."

"Little repetitive don't you think?" He stated as he walked up to the rest of us.

"It's our personal greeting cards Don."

We shook hands and turned to Rich's truck, where it's owner was unloading the supplies.

"Alright, it'll take me a little bit to get the tents out."

"Here, let me help, I'll get the food!" Loren said to Rich, who grabbed the bags out of the truck's bed.

"Thanks Loren" Rich said, he got the tents out of the bag and passed two to Don and one to me before taking one himself.

"Alright, now, to look for the campsite! This is one trip we are not going to forget!"

* * *

 _Last Day of the Camping Trip_

 _June 11th 1982_

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

We returned, after the most life-changing four weeks of my life, possibly the most monumentally changing four weeks in history of mankind, we're back home. We all arrived back alive,and unharmed, but we had been changed, as Richard dropped off the supplies at Loren's house, nobody noticed that much of the survival gear was missing including an axe, and one of the tents was missing. Donald's car took Naomi back to the foster home where she lived, and he drove home, the others were all either dropped off and driven home to where we lived, and Janet, Ethan and I were walking down the sidewalk, going home after four weeks.

"Well, here's to hoping the cops weren't called." Ethan remarked.

"Our parents knew full and well that we would be gone for four weeks, we're just lucky they all agreed." Janet said, brushing her hair with her dirty hands.

"Well, Loren did say that we will never forget this trip." I pointed out, we were now fully operational, now, to begin our work, this will take a long time to prepare for, but with _his_ help, and his gift, it can be accomplished, but-"

"This sucks," Ethan complained. "How the Hell are we going to prepare for an alien invasion?"

 **"Time to find out,"** I said.

* * *

 **HA! You actually thought I was going to put Elfangor in this chapter didn't you? Well, do not fear, he will show up in time, and is he alive? What is the outcome of the battle in orbit? And what happened during that four week camping trip? Oh, and three of these characters were in the Animorphs series, can you guess which ones?**


	5. Chapter 2: How to Establish a Hierarchy

**Well, sorry for the long wait, but the next chapter is here, and you will not be disappointed, nothing major will happen. The Animorphs will discuss what they're going to do next, which means they will have much to discuss. Now let's take a looksy, let's see how many views we got, 667 views!? Wow, I'm inspired, thanks, and this is the longest chapter so far, and it's taken me the longest to complete it, it was very hard to figure out how to finish it, but here it is.**

* * *

 _Chapter 2_

 _The First Gathering_

* * *

 _First Animorph Gathering_

 _June 12th 1982_

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

 _Janet POV_

 _This was absurd, this definitely will not last, we are going to get noticed, we're going to get caught, we'll screw up and-_. I pushed down my fearful thoughts as I waited in the forest for the others to arrive, Seth was here first, and I was second.

I felt the mild nausea again as I waited, it was never enough to make me throw up, but it came close several times. Now it's almost unnoticeable, in a couple of days it will be gone completely, never to emerge again as the reconfiguration of my body is complete.

"knock knock," came a voice from behind me as I turned around.

Seth smiled, "I know who's there." _The FBI, there to take us away to some government testing facility, like Area 51, or worse, dissection._

the place we were in was a small clearing at the foot of a hill, there was an area big enough to fit a school bus were it not for the stump in the middle. A tree was struck by lightning and it fell down, Seth told me he sawed it into a flat stump. There were several logs within the clearing.

Donald in all of his glory just plopped down on a log.

"Hey, why are you sitting there? Donald?" I asked him, wondering why he is two seats away from me, instead of one.

"Well, personal space for one, I mean, come on," the guy complained. "You really can't just up and sit by someone, I mean, come on! You can't have civilization if you're not civil!"

In those three weeks we really got to know each other, like really well.

"Do," Seth interjected, "I think that only applies to the urinals."

"Oh."

"TMI Seth, TMI," I said, putting my hands up.

The rest of the wait was uneventful, it was Naomi, then Rich, and Ethan, and Loren arrived last.

"Alright, looks like everybody's here," Loren said.

"We have much to discuss to say the least, guys," Donald said, bobbing his blond head up and down.

"Yeah, like how we went from a camping trip we lost a bet to get into to meeting an alien who said _oh hi, I'm a frickin alien and I've come to give you powers!_ "

"Ethan, that's not the case, this is serious."

"Who says? some alien from a torched up ship who probably has brain damage?"

"Ethan, stop it!" I said, "we are here for a reason, now shut up and listen!"

He holds up his hands in front of him as if in self defense. "I'm not saying I want out of this, if I did, I would have declined that blue centaur's offer, I'm just saying how jacked up it is, him calling the shots." _Easy for you to say, you don't know or realize the true consequences of an alien invasion, if we are unprepared, you think too shallow Ethan._

"He said he will not call the shots, even if we want him too," Seth said, leaning forward and looking at me on the stump he sat on. "Which brings us to the reason why we're here."

"Why are we here?" Rich asked, "not to sound like a complainer but, this is going to be pretty difficult, and there's no guarantee it'll even make a difference."

"He's not lying," Loren said softly, "trust me."

"How do you know, Loren?" Naomi validly points out, before beginning a rant. "Tell me that the story you told us, you get abducted, then this guy saves you, and returns you home, is true except for one detail, he's an alien for God's sake! Then he contacts you and tells you to lead us into a forest so he can get us to...touch that cube and gain the power to...that's just crazy!"

 _You are right Naomi, it is crazy, but that is life, when unexpected change like this happens, you either adapt or go extinct._

"Silence!" Seth roars at them, effectively quieting the ruckus and breaking me out of my inner thoughts.

"We have gathered here for a very important reason," I said, Seth and Donald looked at me then each other. "To establish the chain of command," I finished.

We all knew this would come eventually, we lived with each other for three weeks, and know each other well, and know that there are only three people who are the most qualified to lead us.

Seth is the guy who you can rely on, good in a crisis, reflects as a man of the people, but doesn't know the first thing about leading and teamwork, unfit to lead, but very much fir to help stop a crisis, but he's a champion, not a king.

Rich however has some qualities that would make him an excellent leader, smart, knows how people work, has good math skills, decent responsibility, his only drawback is that he is indecisive and lazy, with me by his side that will be remedied.

Loren, the little girl, I suspect at least one of us have come to think of her as the team baby, the youngest, and as a result hopelessly optimistic. However it happened, she seemingly knows our alien benefactor and was the one to lead us to him, she knows very little of reality and is a _child_ in every way, even if she were capable I doubt she would have the motivation to lead.

Naomi is a very calm and calculating person, she stays in the know and will not make any decisions without getting as many facts as she can first.

Donald is the wild card, the guy who takes a problem and breezes through it, but sometimes, like a gamble he doesn't always work out, he's the guy with the ideas, not only that, but he's smart, like, _really_ smart, not book smart by any means, but street smart? That's a whole different story, as an added feature he is paranoid.

Then there's Janet, me, the girl with the brain, Donald may be the ideaman, but I'm the _thinker_ , Seth is strong but I have _backbone_. I have the _initiative_ that Rich lacks, all with the _coordination_ skills of Naomi without the overanalyzation. There would be a vote, that's probably how it will be decided, despite how it should be done, with logic, and tests to see who is better.

"Now listen up! If this _is_ going to work, then we have to decide who's the leader right now," Seth said.

"That's not the only problem we're facing right now," Donald put in, "we're going to have to deal with things none of us have ever even conceived." Donald stood up and walked around.

"Our absent friend gave us the morphing power, that's great, but not only that, he gave us _this_ baby."

He put his hand in his backpack and pulled out a cube, _the_ cube, and set it on the stump.

"He gave us this, he made it clear that we can't do this alone, we are going to have to expand our numbers, but before we do that, there are several bridges we'll have to cross."

He picked up the cube and stood on the stump, "like right now, we can't settle for a clearing fifteen minutes into the woods."

He waved his hand around him, motioning to the place where we had gathered, "what we need is a forward operations base, a headquarters, an HQ, how are we going to acquire battle worthy animals like tigers and lions and elephants? Speaking of how are we going to gather the material we _need_ to morph into the larger animals without drawing attention? What are we going to do about our free time? Summer Vacation can't last forever, and how are we going to maintain our secrecy? There's no guarantee the government will just leave us alone, should they even know what with the Russians they're dealing with?"

He had some very valid points, especially on the amount of harm the government could do to us.

"We have loads of problems we need to solve and _soon_ , before we do that we need to establish our goals here and state the problems we're going to deal with."

Donald put the cube down and started to dig in his backpack until he got a notebook out, it was labeled _Gathering Agendas_. He opened the notebook up and placed it on the stump, revealing a diagram.

He opened to the second page, it was written and formatted in Donald's nice looking handwriting, on it was a graph, myself, Seth, and the others leaned forward.

"Oh, so _that's_ what you needed my spare notebook for." Rich said as he looked over Donald's handiwork, "impressive."

The graph sort of resembled a bulls eye, in the center was a circle, the top of which was labeled _Prime Subject_ , in it was **Choose the Leader** , the next circles out were larger. At the top of the second circle was the label, _Secondary Subjects_ , in it was **Establish Gathering Place** , **Arrange the Meeting Schedule** , **Establish Head Quarters, Decide the Best Methods of Preserving Anonymity**.

 _Tertiary Subjects_ , **Decide on method of Acquiring Resources** , **Solve Problem on Lack of Battleworthy Animals in the Immediate Area**. _Huh_ , I agreed with Rich as I read Donald's, work, _Donald put in a lot of work in this_.

There was a group of boxes drawn out in pencil, one marked _Resolved Subjects_ , the other for _Delayed Decisions_ , another marked Emergency Issues, and the last one being _Suggestion Box_ , the entire graph was one good idea.

Donald may be brilliant, but he is prone to mistakes, he said this himself, the graph before me however is not the work of a hairbrain.

"This is a REALLY straight set of priorities Donald," Naomi said.

"Hey Donald?" I asked my compatriot

"Yeah?" He said without turning to look at me.

"Can I borrow that notebook you have there for a few seconds?"

He turned to look at me suspiciously.

"What for?" He asked, putting a hand over his notebook to protect it.

"I just want to write something in the suggestion box, does anyone have a pencil?"

"Here you go, does a pen work?" Rich walked up and gave me the writing device.

Donald moved and I began writing, the words were _**Choose Name**_.

"Choose name? Wow, great idea Janet! Why didn't _I_ think of that?" Donald said, patting my back.

"Yeah, it's a bridge we are going to have to cross, eventually," Seth said, rubbing his chin as he got out of his thinking pose, which was sitting down with his hand over his forehead. He looked strange without his facial hair, he had three weeks to grow a slight beard and after he shaved, I was strangely not used to seeing his face clean shave, clearly the three weeks must have been long.

"But right now we have other things to deal with, I'd rather that before we agree on a leader and a second in command, we need to establish some more meetings, and find a place to have them," I said.

"Well, since it's kind of obvious that we're a group" Donald said, spreading his hands to motion to us. "Like every group, it's obvious we'll need a name for the group, I mean come on, doesn't _Shapeshifting teens out to stop an alien invasion_ sound a bit odd to you?"

"Yes," Rich said with a smile.

"Not only that, we'll need names for ourselves as well as the group," Rich continued, standing up for the first time since walking in this meeting.

"What?" Naomi said, "what do you mean, for the group as well as ourselves?"

"We know we need codenames," Rich emphasized, "like Rich? Janet? Seth? Naomi? tell me that's not a dead give away, anonymity will be our ally"

"Not now, first, we need to establish the chain of command." I said, "so we only have three candidates, Rich, Donald, and myself."

"Hold on," Seth said, getting up from his seat "why am _I_ not on that list?"

"And me? Why did you choose me as a candidate?" Rich said, eyebrows very much raised and intrigued.

I answered Rich first, _because you're the best candidate we have below myself, and someone has to lead the charge, if not me then you're second best, at least with me in the helm beside you_

"Because, you're capable, Rich don't sell yourself short, I know you can do this if I'm not the one to be chosen."

I turned toward the dark haired teenager who was looking at me blankly. _You don't have what it takes to be leader, being close to the average man is good but you're too close, and you don't have a clue about the responsibilities being leader will come with._

"Seth, quite frankly, I don't see you becoming leader because, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, you're unqualified and unprepared."

His eyebrows were raised by Rich, Donald, Loren, and Seth, the latter's were raised the highest.

"Janet? Are you serious?" Donald said critically, looking at me with a face that said what position he was taking clearly.

"Yes," I responded.

" _Unqualified_? Janet, unprepared I can see, but unqualified? Are you out of your _mind_?" Ethan asked breathlessly, his hands spread before him in a blatant expression of incredulity.

"And why me?" Rich cut in, "what makes Seth not a qualified leader? How do you know?"

"Alright, enough!" Loren said, speaking proactively for the first time, "there are seven of us, we can only have so many candidates, maximum of three, so who's volunteering?"

Seth raised his hand, as did Donald and myself, I looked over to Rich.

"Sorry Janet, but I don't really want all the responsibility, maybe I'll try for second in command?"

"Okay, that's it," Seth put forward bluntly whilst holding three fingers, "there are three candidates, me, Donald, and Janet, the other's, Loren Naomi, Rich and Ethan have one vote each."

"Why can't I have a vote?" Ethan said in his strange voice.

"I just said you already have one," Seth responded.

Ethan gasps in pretend shock, "so you're going to let me have _two_? My my how scandalous!"

"Alright, let's get back on track, me, Seth, and Janet are candidates for the role, leader, let's cast our votes now."

 _Okay, here goes, three weeks of isolation and getting to know these people and it comes to this._

 _Seth, an average guy on the outside, the hero type in both body and mind, a good friend, but a good leader? I can hardly see that happening, tends to be somewhat of a control freak, doesn't take things not going his way well_ at all _._

 _Donald, the wild card, the man who proposes the plans, if there were any reason why he should be leader, it's because he's the one who comes up with the ideas, he will obviously vote for himself, just like Seth, but I'm not too averse to following his lead, despite his outwardly idiotic personality._

 _Naomi, she is calculating, a fierce ally and opponent, the best of friends and the worst of enemies, and my best friend since we were in elementary school, she knows how I will lead, and how beneficial it will be, her vote will be cast for me, so I estimate now that 2 for me one for Seth and Donald._

 _Loren, the idealist, the country girl, and the girl with the alien connection, she'll most likely vote for Donald, because she simply recognizes the value of his creativity, he'll be the architect for our organization no matter how high ranking he is, Donald 2, Seth 1, Me 2._

"Alright, now to decide who the leader of this group of mismatched apocalypse preppers is going to be, we're going to have to cast our votes," Donald proposed, "so, who's first?"

I raised my hand and abruptly said, "Janet."

Seth mirrored my actions and simply said, "Seth."

"No brainer," the youngest of our group said, "Donald"

"Janet," Naomi said, I know she'll _always_ be on my side.

Ethan pondered it for a few seconds before saying it out loud, "Jan...just kidding, Seth."

 _Ethan, where Donald acts like an idiot on the outside, Ethan acts similarly, but spouts many jokes, I think he'll be our group's running gag, he's been with Seth for as long as I've known him, he just evened out the votes between all of us, if Donald chooses himself, which I'm certain he will._

"I'm in, I think it should be Donald," Rich said, "one vote left, it's your call."

It all rests on him, as the seventh vote, he will choose the leader of this group, from here until wherever that brings us.

He scratched his chin, and closed his eyes in contemplation, is her seriously deciding or is her drawing this out?

After several tense minutes that seemed to last forever with my mild nausea he opened his eyes, it's either me, him, or Seth, or no one if he abstains.

"Like Loren said," he said, smiling while holding his arms out to his sides, "it's a no brainer."

So, he's choosing himself then, I knew it, at least I'll try for second in command, well, at least no one's going to get ignored, right?

"Seth," Donald said, before bursting out in laughter.

 _Whaaaaaat?_

Seth smiled, "thank you, Donald, now." He cleared his throat afterwards, "now to decide who the second in command should be, any volunteers?"

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 **Well, I for one thoroughly hoped I surprised you, and I also hope that you enjoyed this chapter, man, a total of 3,172 words? Well, please do tell me what you think of this in the reviews, thank you for your patience my viewers.**


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